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WWE Universal Championship
) | youngest = Kevin Owens ( ) | heaviest = Brock Lesnar (286 lbs) | lightest = Finn Bálor (190 lbs) | mostkeysholder = | pastnames = }} The WWE Universal Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of two world titles in the WWE, alongside the WWE Championship on the SmackDown brand. The title is currently held by Brock Lesnar, who is in his first reign. Named in honor of the WWE Universe, the championship was established on July 25, 2016 to be the major championship of the Raw brand. Its creation came as a result of the re-introduction of the brand extension and a subsequent draft on July 19, 2016, in which the WWE Championship, the promotion's original world title, became exclusive to SmackDown Live. The inaugural Universal Champion was Finn Bálor. History With the reintroduction of the WWE brand extension, a draft took place on the ''SmackDown Live's premiere episode on July 19, 2016 and WWE Champion Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown. At Battleground on July 24, Ambrose successfully defended the title in a triple threat match against Raw draftees Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. When Ambrose retained the title, Raw was left without a world title. On the following episode of Raw, Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon and Raw general manager Mick Foley created the WWE Universal Championship to serve as the brand's top championship. According to Foley, the title was named in honor of the WWE Universe, the name WWE uses to refer to its fan base. In response, the WWE Championship was renamed to WWE World Championship before reverting back to the former name in December 2016. The inaugural champion was crowned at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016 in a singles match and Seth Rollins was automatically set for that match, as he was Raw's number one draft pick and was not pinned at Battleground, while his opponent was determined by two fatal four-way matches on Raw, with the winners wrestling each other in a singles match. Finn Bálor won the first fatal four-way by defeating Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Rusev, while Roman Reigns won the second by defeating Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, and Sheamus. Bálor then defeated Reigns and was added to the title match. At SummerSlam, Bálor defeated Rollins to become the inaugural champion, and as a result, Bálor became the first WWE wrestler to win a world title in their pay-per-view debut, as well as winning his first world title in less than a month since his debut on WWE's main roster. Championship belt design The title belt was unveiled at SummerSlam and is similar in appearance to the WWE Championship, with a few notable differences. The strap is red, to symbolize its exclusivity to the Raw brand, with the underline of the WWE logo in the center plate being black to make it visible (essentially the reverse of the WWE Championship belt). As the championship belt is similar to the WWE Championship, the center plate is a large cut out of the WWE logo with diamonds sitting inside an irregular heptagonal plate, with the phrase "Universal Champion" in small print sitting underneath the logo. Each side plate, sitting on the other side of gold divider bars, features the same default side plates of the WWE Championship, with the champion's logo able to be customized for the side plates as a similarity of the name plate feature. Reception The Universal Championship belt has been heavily criticized. Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports described it as "ugly", while Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net referred to "a title belt that no one likes". It garnered a negative reaction from fans, both in attendance at SummerSlam (where the audience gave derisive chants including "This belt sucks"), and online. New England Sports Network journalist Ricky Doyle wrote that the crowd reaction to the belt turned what should have been a "landmark moment for the company" into an "awkward experience". Mike Johnson of PWInsider did not believe the audience was at fault, writing that WWE should not have expected a positive response to a title that looks like a "xerox" of the WWE Championship. WWE employees responded in the aftermath of the title's debut. Seth Rollins chastised the SummerSlam crowd's reaction, writing on Twitter: "More important than a title's appearance is what it represents for the men fighting over it. You really let me down tonight, Brooklyn". On-screen Raw General Manager Mick Foley, while acknowledging that he himself might have chosen a different belt design, echoed Rollins' response in a lengthy Facebook post. He recalled being presented with the WWF Hardcore Championship, a title belt made of broken metal pieces held together by duct tape, which challengers "made... mean something by busting their asses". In a kayfabe promo on the following episode of Raw, the then-villainous Rollins called the championship belt "beautiful". In October 2016, Jim Vorel of Paste ranked the title as the worst of nine then contested in WWE, noting its "obnoxious" design, and that the title belt deserved most of the censure it had received. Title history Reigns As of , , there have been 4 reigns and 1 vacancy. Finn Bálor was the inaugural champion, who defeated Seth Rollins in a pinfall and submission-only match on August 21, 2016 at SummerSlam, but was forced to vacate the title due to suffering a legitimate injury during the match. Due to this, his reign is the shortest at 22 hours, while Kevin Owens has the longest reign at 188 days. Owens is also the youngest champion at 32, while Goldberg is the oldest at 50. Brock Lesnar is the current champion in his first reign. He won the championship by defeating Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, 2017 in Orlando, Florida. Combined reigns As of , . References External links * * Category:Championships Category:RAW Championships Category:WWE Championships